Hello EVers, and welcome to the 2024-25 season!

Coming up is a defining season for the choir, one that will set a new standard for us.  We have created what I think is a terrific programme and I hope that you'll share my enthusiasm for it!  I also, very seriously, want to ask each of you to use it as a tool to recruit new members to our unique group.

1.  Lontano Festival of American Music - 15 November - The Warehouse

We have been invited to give the final concerts (we'll sing it twice) of this exciting festival, held at the Warehouse, a cool venue on the South Bank.  It's the sort of programme that sets EV apart, called Songs, Psalms and Proverbs......Steve Reich to Paul Simon.  We've all wanted to have another crack at Steve Reich's Proverb, and here's our chance, joined by a pro ensemble of keyboards and percussion. My own two pieces will be from memory.
            
            Philip Glass                        Three Songs
            Odaline de Martinez            Three Afro-Cuban Songs                                                         
            Charles Ives                       Four Songs 
            Steve Reich                        Proverb 
            Paul Simon arr. Stroman      Can't Run But
            Scott Stroman                    Glory from Jazz Psalms

2. Britten and Bach at Christmas - 15 December - Union Chapel

We return to Union Chapel for a banger of a concert based around Britten's St. Nicolas, including the Highbury Youth Choir, our bespoke Britten Ensemble, two of our favourite singers, tenor Adrian Thompson and baritone Jonathan Eyers - and one of our favourite pieces, Britten's Cantata Misericordium.  To kick it off I've tossed in a piece of mine, written for the Lyon Opera Chorus and never done in the UK, and we'll finish with Bach (of course!).

            Stroman                         So Hallowed and So Gracious is the Time (First UK performance)
            Britten                            St. Nicolas
            Eric Whitacre                   Lux Aurumque                                                          
            Britten                            Cantata Misericordium
            Bach                               Cantata BWV 61, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland

3. Mozart Requiem with Robert Levin - 20 January - Milton Court Concert Hall

After last season's triumphant C Minor Mass, how could we not jump at the opportunity to perform Levin's completion of the Requiem, with him playing Mozart in the same concert?  We'll be in the spectacular Milton Court Concert Hall in the Barbican Centre, after a short and concentrated period of rehearsals (each Monday and Thursday).  For this one everyone will be expected to be note-perfect when we start our rehearsals. We'll be joined by the Blaze Ensemble, soloists from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and pianists Levin and David Dolan.

            Mozart                               Concerto for Two Pianos
            Mozart, completed Levin      Requiem (with an illustrated introduction from Robert Levin)

4.   Water/Canons - 30 March - Union Chapel (or 29 March in Actors' Church)

This is really attractive EV programme, one where East meets West.  It is built around beautiful contemporary pieces by two of the world's most celebrated younger composers. We'll be joined by a Hindustani singer and tabla player, organist and percussionist.  I guarantee that you will love singing this luscious music as much as the audience enjoy hearing it.

            Stroman                        Bright Psalms
            Poulenc                         Quatre Motets pour un temps de Pénitence
            Nico Mulhy                     Bright Mass with Canons
            Reena Esmail                 Malhaar: A Requiem for Water   (First European performance)


5.   Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life:     Geneva, Switzerland - 23-26 May
                                                                               Actors' church, London - 7 June

Last Autumn I was invited to guest conduct my Suite from Songs in the Key of LIfe with the La Châtaigneraie Community Choir in Geneva.  It was a blast - they'd learned it from memory, as EV had, and we immediately dreamed up the idea of working together in 2025.  We'll each contribute a few additional songs, and we'll be performing with a top octet of jazz musicians. All will be from memory.

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This is a year to refresh EV; to recommit ourselves to our goals, and to set the tone for the future.  Here are our priorities for this new season:

- Recruiting new members.  We need new members, to provide a platform for the future. 

- Maintaining a consistently high standard.  Everyone will know what to prepare for each rehearsal in advance.  Every rehearsal should be on musical matters, working together, rather than individual parts.  Starting from where we are, we're going to strive for a consistently high standard.

- Consistent rehearsal attendance and timekeeping Our EV schedule does not provide extra rehearsals to allow for members missing some; we assume that everyone is at every rehearsal (and that if one is missed, the singer has made up for it). I will not waste your or my time with unnecessary repetition - only the necessary repetition we all desire.

- Filling the halls at all our concerts.  I expect us to be excellent, and to delight our audiences at every performance.  Once they've heard us, I want them to want to come back, no matter what the repertoire, because our performances are engaging and interesting, and sound great. We're good and deserve full houses.

Let's take this choir to the next level this year.

Love, Scott